Earthquake in Los Angeles – Magnitude 4.4 earthquake felt in San Diego

Photo from Florian via Flicker

If you felt your bed shake early this morning, you weren’t dreaming, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 4:04 am just 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and there were reports of people feeling it all the way here in San Diego county. There were no immediate reports of damage or power outages but about an hour after the quake the California Highway Patrol received reports of damage to the 5 freeway in the city of Downey, south of downtown.

The quake was centered one mile east of Pico Rivera. The damage was minor and only consisted of some broken concrete in a section of the roadway that was already under repair. The damage did cause some backup in traffic when two lanes were closed.

The earthquake mostly affected the downtown LA area, interrupting elevator service in the new police department headquarters across from city hall. Mostly there were reports of pictures falling from walls. Although the earthquake was not very noteworthy, it was felt over a large part of Southern California, south to San Diego, west to Santa Monica and east to San Bernardino county.

San Diego county has had it share of earthquakes recently but many go unnoticed. Last Wednesday, a 3.5 magnitude earthquake shook the Lake Henshaw area in north county at around 5:40 pm. Just this past Saturday morning a 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck about 14 miles east of Julian and yesterday a 1.4 quake struck at 2:00 pm, 4 miles from La Mesa according to data by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Earthquakes happen everyday and are just a part of life here in Southern California. Seismologist, Kate Hutton, stated that today’s earthquake was unlikely a precursor to a larger quake and the chances of that diminish over time. According to the USGS, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake is considered a light quake felt mostly by people indoors with only dishes, windows or doors disturbed. The vibrations mostly feel like the passing of a large truck.